By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on July 30, 2015 at 3:54 PM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to delay a year-end deadline for railroads to install automatic speed control equipment that would have averted a fatal Amtrak crash several months ago.
The Senate passed $350 billion legislation to renew federal highway and rail programs for six years, 65-34, but the measure gives railroads another three years to install positive train control. The absence of such equipment along the Northeast Corridor was blamed for the May 13 fatal derailment of a speeding Amtrak train in Philadelphia.
While Amtrak has said it would meet the Dec. 31 deadline for installing the technology, other railroads are lagging behind. A Senate Commerce Committee memo said the deadline was "not feasible for the vast majority of freight and commuter railroads."
"This is a transportation bill that ignores the transportation crisis in this country," said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). "It disregards what we learned after the horrible train crash in Philadelphia by delaying implementation of positive train control, which we know would have prevented the tragedy and saved lives."
Both Menendez and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) voted no, as did most other northeastern senators, bemoaning the lack of funding for roads and rails.
"New Jersey commuters are hurting right now," Booker said. "Every day, they deal with crumbling roads, dangerous bridges, and failing rail lines that lack modern safety technology."
The current bill expires Friday, and without new legislation, the U.S. government could no longer spend federal funds on highway projects. The Senate on Thursday also cleared, 91-4, a temporary extension of current legislation. The House, which recessed Thursday and won't return to Washington until after Labor Day, earlier passed the three-month extension.
Positive train control was on the list of the National Transportation Safety Board's most wanted safety improvements for 2015.
"Without positive train control, real world results have been tragic," NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart said June 2 at a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on the Amtrak crash."Positive train control would have prevented the May 12 accident."
The six-year measure included provisions in a Senate Commerce Committee-approved Amtrak bill sponsored by Booker and U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), including authorizing spending of up to $8.9 billion for Amtrak over four years. The money would have to be approved in a separate transportation spending bill.
Even so, Booker said he could not support the legislation because it did not "do enough to make needed investments that will bring relief" to residents of New Jersey, such as funding for new Hudson River rail tunnels and a new Portal Bridge.